Tokyo 2020 Olympic champions Tom Green and Jean van der Westhuyzen have bypassed the canoe sprint quarter-finals with a strong and steady performance in the men’s K2 500m heats.‍

Jean and Tom made it look easy, starting in front of the field and holding a comfortable gap on their opponents all the way to the finish line.

"We've done a lot of work to work on our front end,” Tom said.

“We still had plenty to give, and we put ourselves in a position where we could kill it towards the line. So it was really good."

They’ll be back in action for the semi-finals on Friday 9 August.

“We just want to be like a dog on a bone out there, we just want to go for it,” Jean said.

In the men’s K4 500m, Riley Fitzsimmons, Pierre van der Westhuyzen, Jackson Collins and Noah Havard went from the heats to the quarter-finals, where they set an Olympic best time of 1:19.39.

In doing so, the K4 500 crew advanced to the semi-finals on Thursday 8 August and avoided the chaos of the photo finish for second to fourth between New Zealand, Denmark and Canada.‍

Ella Beere, Aly Bull, Alexandra Clarke and Yale Steinepreis in the women’s K4 500m placed outside of the three fastest nations in their heat, coming in fourth with a time of 1:34.60 that sees them lineup for the semi-finals on Thursday 8 August.

“Our start was good,” Yale said. “We definitely need to find a way to keep the tempo up through the transition and our back end wasn’t too bad. Lots of learnings to take into the semis.”

In the women’s K2 500m Ella Beere and Aly Bull are through to the semi-finals and the world champions from the Netherlands have been eliminated.

Ella Beere and Aly Bull finished second-fastest in the quarter-finals, in a time of 1:41.39, and come Friday 9 August they’ll compete in the semis.

Words courtesy of olympics.com.au.‍

‍Image courtesy of Garry Bowden.